Swamp Cypress 08, Natchez Trace Parkway, Mississippi

The next in the swamp cypress series. I loved the beautiful verticals. Reminds me of the aspen groves in the West. My specific questions have to do with composition and color correction. Any thoughts? Please also compare to the following image (#09).

Any comments or ratings are appreciated! :-)

The composition is great; really great. The magenta cast though is off-putting (particularly on the boles of the trees); and the greens correspondingly look off too. Boy, you can sure tell there's been a drought in the southeastern US; look at the exposed water line on the trees. Cheers! Chris

Chris - if you don't mind, I'm going to go ahead and e-mail you the original of this, completely uncorrected. It was in my pre-RAW days ... so it will be a jpg file. If you have time to play with it, I'd love to see your take on the color settings (with some stuff from your notes as well). :-D Thanks!

Send it on; I'll tinker with it. Probably won't be until tomorrow when I can sit down and spend some time with PS. I'll give it the old college try. Cheers! Chris

Here's ole swampy #8. I've tinkered with it: cropped and sized; adjusted Levels; adjusted Curves; adjusted the Saturation; flattened; and unsharp mask. I like it; there are a couple of highlights that are close to being blown on the trees on the right side. I worked with curves and got back as much as I could from the JPEG original. Do let me know what you think. Cheers! C

I LOVE it!! Thanks! The tweaks are all super. And the balance between green and magenta really works! Thank you, Chris!! When are we going to see some DV photos?

I've spent all weekend packing for the trip. I leave early Thursday a.m. and meet fellow PNer, Ray Banfield, at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center. We then drive for about 3 hours to the Racetrack where we're gonna campout. I have three batteries, 15 GB worth of CF cards, my lenses, my filter system. AND I'm taking a really beautiful and colorful kite with me. I want to try some weird stuff with a kite in the air over that stark landscape. The weather is supposed to be just wonderful too; mid-70s and lows in the mid-40s. We will come out on Saturday after an early a.m. shoot. So stuff should start popping up a week from today! I'm gonna e-mail you the final sized JPEG (10x7.5) of your swamp cypress right now! Cheers! C

Oooh - thanks, Chris - I can't wait to see the stuff with the kite. Don't tell me about the lovely weather. You ought to see what's outside my window here in Buffalo this evening. Ugh!!